WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — At one of his final rallies, at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, former President Donald Trump delivered an enhanced version of his typical campaign speech, promising “the strongest economy, the safest borders.” ”. and the safest cities.”

He also criticized his adversaries whom he considers “the enemy within” and described his opponent, Vice President Harris, as a bad person with a “low IQ.”

“We are facing something much bigger than Joe (Biden) or Kamala (Harris) and much more powerful than them, which is a huge, vicious radical left machine that runs today’s Democratic Party,” Trump told the crowd.

Upon his return to power, Trump defied many expectations and survived repeated scandals and multiple accusations. He is the first convicted felon to reach the White House.

Trump’s overall final focus on the economy and immigration ultimately resonated with enough Americans, more so than the message delivered by Harris, who called for unity and warned that Trump was a “little tyrant” obsessed with revenge.

Trump doubled down on his hardline border stance, using increasingly dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, accusing them of poisoning the country’s blood and falsely claiming that a Venezuelan street gang was taking over the country.

The election results show that Americans were less concerned about Trump’s rhetoric and instead yearned for change. Polls just before Election Day showed that Harris could not take up the mantle of change as part of the Biden administration.

Many experts cite out-of-control inflation midway through the Biden administration’s term as key to Harris’ downfall. While inflation slowed, prices remained higher than when Trump was in office.

Voters like Dale Roberts in Georgia saw Harris as an extension of President Biden.

“Harris has the same policies as Biden. There are no two ways about it,” said the 67-year-old former state trooper. “No matter how you lie or try to get out of this, you can’t get out of it. “She should have changed policies or tried to change policies while she was vice president.”

As he did in 2016, Trump appeared to galvanize an army of white, working-class voters this election cycle, particularly men. Exit polls also indicated it eroded support among key groups for Democrats, including Latinos and black men.

In the end, Trump’s victory may have simply come down to an old political cliché: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

“Ultimately, what it says about President Trump’s victory is that people are more willing to vote out of pocket,” said Republican pollster Jon McHenry. “They say: ‘I think the criticism of democracy is exaggerated and I’m going to vote with my pocketbook because I know that’s not exaggerated.’”

Trump was helped by an increase in border crossings early in the Biden administration, which sparked protests, not only from Republican governors and mayors, but also Democrats, who criticized the Biden administration for its immigration policies along the border. .

Some thought divisions within the Republican Party, including the high-profile defection of top party leaders like former Rep. Liz Cheney, would prove fatal for Trump.

But Harris also struggled to articulate a clear vision for the country’s future, beyond pressuring people to vote against Trump.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s what it is,” Harris said, during a high-profile speech outside the White House. “But America, I’m here tonight to say: that’s not who we are.”

But Biden did him a disservice by promoting unity when, in the final days of the race, he appeared to call Trump supporters “trash.” The White House attempted to clarify the confusing comment, arguing that the president was specifically talking about a comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who when speaking at Trump’s rally in New York City called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

But the damage was already done. Trump stoked his supporters’ outrage by donning an orange reflective vest and answering questions from the press while sitting in a Trump-branded garbage truck before his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which he later wore at his rally.

Instead of running away from his scandals, Trump embraced his legal problems and used them to reinforce one of his central messages: that the system is rigged, and works against conservatives in particular.

He escalated his threats to persecute his political opponents, even suggesting that he might use the military to confront the “enemy from within.”

He loved giving the kind of red meat speech that his die-hard fans will wait hours in the sun to see.

“I like to be kind and careful,” Trump said at a rally in Duluth, Georgia. “And then I decide: is it better to be careful or to really entertain people? And I usually go for the entertainment side. And then I have fun.”

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